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Air Movement
Air Movement is the least restrictive of the three modes by which units move in combat. * Ground Movement * Water Movement * Air Movement Some creatures in Master of Magic either fly or are not tethered by gravity in a natural manner. However they managed to defy physics, the Air Movement rules afford these creatures a superior set of liberties in any combat they take part in, whether it is over land or sea. The baseline rules are: * Ground and Water units cannot normally initiate melee attacks on Air units. They may counterattack. * Air units may pass across rough combat terrain tiles, tile snares, and City Walls unhindered. * Units with Air Movement retain it during both land and ocean battles. Losing Air Movement It is possible for a unit to lose Air Movement and be grounded during battle. Beware of Web and the four Dispelling spells in the hands of enemy spellcasters. Don't hesitate to use them against airborne enemies if you want to make melee attacks on them. Grounded flyers can go into if they have it. They otherwise default to , even in water, which immobilizes the unit completely. Note on Overland Map Travel The term "air movement" can apply to flying units traveling on the overland map in a general sense. A stack of units that displays its Movement Allowance with the icon is either composed entirely of flying units or has a Wind Walker present, and no vessels. In any case the stack is released from many restrictions, and a few privileges, tied to overland surface travel. Strictly speaking, though, refers to combat. Since the aforementioned Wind Walking does not function in combat, the wind-walker and his allies could be said, amid the confusion, to , but not to . Combat Terrain Units in flight pay the same low price to cross any sort of combat terrain tile. If there are enemy ground units that can attack flyers (for instance, through Fire Breath), they can be lured across rough terrain, or at the very least away from road tiles, to stagger their pursuit. Effects Overview Below is a table of abilities and effects that relate to in combat. Air superiority is a somewhat complex set of rock-paper-scissors relationships between spells. This table includes some things designed to foil Air Movement and some things designed to foil those things. Availability Air Movement is available through the following magical effects. * Flight and Flight (Item Power) * Chaos Channels: Demon Wings It bears emphasizing that Wind Walking, a useful Rare spell for overland flight, has no effects in battle. Flight The uncommon Flight spell is the only completely reliable, generally-applicable source. It can be cast at-will on any unit in the game. Flight The Flight Item Power is a more expensive, non-dispellable version of the spell for heroes' equipment. Chaos Channels A less reliable source is the Uncommon Chaos Channels spell, which offers Air Movement on a 1-in-3 roll. Call Chaos An extremely marginal source is an enemy Wizard casting the Very Rare Call Chaos spell on your army. This has a (1 / 8) × (1 / 3) ≈ 4.167% chance per unit of "inflicting" Chaos Channels: Demon Wings, as above. Since units are much more likely to be seriously injured or even annihilated by the spell, it's usually best not to encourage your rivals to use it on your troops. No less than 35 units in the game are natural Flyers. Of these, 34 possess Air Movement, while Jaer the Wind Mage is the game's built-in example of a Wind Walker who does not fly in combat. The Flying Normal Units include the mid-tier hero Fang the Draconian, all Draconian troops, and the mythical beasts trained at the Fantastic Stable. * Air Ship * Draconian Bowmen * Draconian Halberdiers * Draconian Magicians * Draconian Settlers * Draconian Shamans * Draconian Spearmen * Draconian Swordsmen * Doom Drakes * Fang the Draconian * Griffins * Manticores * Nightmares * Pegasai * Wyvern Riders There are exactly 19 Flying Fantastic Units, representing all magical realms in force: * Air Elemental * Angel * Arch Angel * Chaos Spawn * Chimeras * Cockatrices * Death Knights * Demon * Demon Lord * Doom Bat * Efreet * Gargoyles * Gorgons * Great Drake * Djinn * Shadow Demons * Sky Drake * Sprites * Wraiths Category:Unit Movement